North Carolina State University Athletics
Mining The Field
11/29/2004 12:00:00 AM | Football
Nov. 15, 2004
John `Doc' Holliday, one of top recruiters in college football, has been mining the south Florida region for talent the past two and a half decades. Prior to working at NC State, Holliday was an assistant coach at West Virginia, where he spent 21 years before moving to Raleigh. Recruiting southern Florida for the Mountaineers, he often crossed paths with a Florida State assistant coach named Chuck Amato.
"We recruited against each other down there for about 19 years," Holliday said. "We've known each other for a long time. We always had a good relationship. We butted heads an awful lot recruiting there, and we always worked like crazy to beat each other."
In January 2000 Amato took the head job at NC State. His first hire was his old recruiting nemesis.
"I had been at West Virginia for about 25 years and I wasn't looking for a job," Holliday recalled. "I called Chuck to congratulate him. He asked me to fly down to spend some time and I did, but really not thinking that I'd take the job because I was happy where I was. Just being around him and the excitement that he had, plus knowing that he was a very loyal person and that what he said, he meant, made me see all the potential that this program had. I said `What the hell, let's take a shot.' I'm glad I did."
NC State is glad he did too. Holliday has coached three of the top four receivers in NC State history (Koren Robinson, Bryan Peterson and Jerricho Cotchery) during his first four years with the Wolfpack. A renown recruiter and an intense coach on the practice field who demands peak performance from his receivers every snap, there is no question which part of the job Holliday enjoys the most.
"I think if your favorite moment isn't the Saturdays, then you're in it for the wrong reasons," Holliday said. "You want to compete, you want to win and to go out on a Saturday, line up and see all the work that you've put in the other 365 days pay off - that's the ultimate reward. To look up at the end of the game and see your team on the plus side of the scoreboard, it makes you feel good. I think if you're in it for any other reason, you're in the wrong business."
The oldest of five kids, Holliday grew up on a farm in rural West Virginia. He played football at West Virginia University and earned a degree in physical education. A linebacker, Holliday played one year under Bobby Bowden and three under Frank Cignetti, whose son Curt is Holliday's fellow assistant coach at NC State. Following graduation, Holliday stuck around Morgantown and took a GA coaching position for the Mountaineers and earned a master's degree in safety management.
"I was very fortunate because after I finished playing I stepped right into being a graduate assistant, and after one year I was hired as a full-time assistant," Holliday said. "I was very fortunate to get in at a young age and to get such a good job. I've enjoyed it. I enjoy working with kids and I've enjoyed the recruiting part of it. The ultimate goal is to win football games, but it is a lot of fun to have kids that you recruit come in from different situations and walk out with a degree four or five years later. That's what makes it all worthwhile."
While a great number of people have influenced Holliday and helped him develop his coaching style, he points to one man as the coach who has taught him the most.
"Don Nehlen was the head coach at West Virginia all those years I was there, and he was the one who gave me my first job and gave me my first opportunity," Holliday said. "He taught me that to be successful, the most important thing is to get good players. Over the past five years Chuck Amato has just reinforced that."
Admitting that one of his greatest recruiting accomplishments was convincing his college girlfriend, Diana, to marry him, Holliday has made the tough life of a coach's wife easier with his job stability. The Holliday's daughter, Meghan (18), who is a freshman at NC State, and three sons, Cade (17), Chase (16) and Cody (14), have only moved one time, which is a rarity for a coach's family.
"I've been really fortunate to have only had two jobs and to have things work out that way for me," Holliday said. "It's probably very unusual in this profession. Coaches are lucky to be at one place for more than four years these days. I'm thankful to have had the tenure that I had at West Virginia and have at NC State. To be honest, if I had to bounce around like a lot of people do, I don't know if I'd do it because my family is awfully important to me."
Family is also where Holliday draws his work ethic. His father was a judge and a prosecutor and his mother raised Holliday and his four younger siblings while volunteering at school, church and with the parks and recreation department.
"My dad came from a family that worked in the mines," Holliday said. "He fought in Korea, came back and got his law degree. He worked as hard, if not harder, in law than I have ever worked as a football coach. He spent a lot of hours at it and he wasn't one of the attorneys that made a lot of money. There weren't a lot of people around there that had a lot of money. He would take jobs when he first got started for livestock or firewood.
"My mom worked harder than any of us her whole life and never got paid for it," Holliday continued. "When we first started growing up, there were no parks, swimming pools or anything like that in the entire community. She got all of that done with her volunteer work in parks & recreation. I learned my work ethic and what it takes to be successful from my mom and dad."
Hard work is all Holliday knows and success is what he's helping bring to Wolfpack football.
